Have you ever wondered how to harness the power of great books in your life?  In the past, reading a classic might have meant reading for a class in order to pass a test.  But now, perhaps you want something different, something that expands and uplifts.  So, how can you make the paradigm shift from a classroom mentality to a transformational experience?

In this episode, Audrey Ribdlisbacher will help you see how you can plant and nourish the seed of transformational learning.  You’ll hear how to:

get a book through you

choose books wisely with personal growth in mind

nourish your fledgling plant by giving yourself permission to only read a part of a book

mark quotes and epiphanies in a way you can easily refer back to them

write questions that expand your understanding

strengthen your faith by bringing what you read back to your scriptures

Listener's Guide:

Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast.

0:40  Getting a book through you

6:40  Reading skills for life-long learning

8:23  How to chose the books you spend time with

18:02  Start reading by asking your WHY

21:05  Mark quotes and write the 5 types of questions

23:22  Bring it back to your scriptures

28:44  Record your “take home”

Quotes from this episode:

“But I hope that you have now arrived at an age to understand that reading, even of the bible, is a thing in itself neither good nor bad, but that all the good that can be drawn from it, is by the use and improvement of what you have read, with the help of your own reflections. Young people sometimes boast of how many books and how much they have read; when instead of boasting, they ought to be ashamed of having wasted so much time to so little profit. I advise you, my son, in whatsoever you read, and most of all in reading the Bible, to remember that it is for the purpose of making you wiser and more virtuous.” ~John Quincy Adams to his son

“The best education for the best is the best education for all.” ~Robert Maynard Hutchins

“The ideas and issues raised by good books are more permanent and more interesting than those that are raised by inferior books. In fact, the best books—great books, as they are called—raise the most fundamental and lively issues of all.” ~Mortimer J. Adler

“You are not, in fact, going to read nothing: if you don’t read good books, you’ll read bad ones.” ~C.S. Lewis

“A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.” ~C.S. Lewis

“The best books are over our heads.” ~Mortimer J. Adler

“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” ~Albert Einstein

“I have myself for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year. I have always endeavoured to read it with the same spirit and temper of mind which I now recommend to you. That is, with the intention and desire that it may contribute to my advancement in wisdom and virtue.” ~John Quincy Adams 

“The Holy Scripture is to me, and always will be the constant guide of my assent; and I shall always hearken to it, as containing the infallible truth relating to things of highest concernment…and I shall presently condemn and quit any opinion of mind, as soon as I am shown that it is contrary to any revelation in the Holy Scripture.” ~John Locke

“I hope…that as you learn to read, the heavier reading you once put aside will cease to be burdensome.